Peace, Love, & UNC

Monday, April 30, 2012

Now is the most stressful time of year. Not only do we have our final tests in all of our classes but it's also move out time for all the students who are living on campus. That means that while we are trying to study for our finals we also have to be packing up our rooms. It's a bitter sweet time of the year. We say good bye to our friends who are graduating seniors and get ready to move back home. But on the other hand it's almost summer and there are so many cool things that I have planned for this summer. For me I have all my finals on Wednesday and Thursday. So I get the beginning of the week to pack and study and then test taking for the last two days. I will say that the university really tries to make finals a less stressful time for students. They have study breaks at the dinning halls with snacks and free massages at the University Center the weekend before finals. They have movie nights and fun activities to give students a break from studying. They enforce 23 hour quiet hours. That means that for 23 hours of the day people have to be quiet. That means no loud music or anything of that sort. Even though it's the most stressful time of the year, its one of my favorites. I get to look forward to the summer and there are so many fun things happening on campus. You stay busy the whole week and it's always a huge relief when you finish a final and think "yeah that was my last time in that class". Unless you failed, then you would have to take it again, but lets hope that doesn't happen. It also a nice because it's spring time. The weather is getting warmer the days are longer and almost everyone is out side. There are girls sun bathing and guys playing Frisbee or catch. Its also nice to go outside and study under a shading tree. I hope all of you out there have a great finals week and I hope you all have a great summer!

Monday, April 16, 2012

One of my favorite things about campus is the historical district of central campus. So today I'm going to give you a brief history about UNC. The university was established in 1889 and we were or8iginally called the State Normal School and our mascot was the teacher. Wow talk about an intimidating mascot. "Ahhh loo out its the teachers". Luckily now were the bears. "Ahhhhh look out its the bears". Now that sounds scary. Anyways... The first building built on campus was Cranford Hall back in 1889 when the school first opened. Unfortunately after many years of wear and tear and then a fire they tore down the building in 1972. Today the cornerstone of Cranford hall still stands. They say that if you kiss your sweet heart at midnight in front of the cornerstone you will find true love.

The oldest building still standing on campus is Carter Hall. It was built in 1907 and was originally the library for the university. Today it is our administration building where we have financial aid, student employment, and many more offices. ﻿One of my favorite buildings on campus is Gunter. The out side is a beautiful cathedral look building and was dedicated in 1928. It was originally the gymnasium for the university where there was two gyms, a swimming, pool, and examining physician rooms. The building was renovated in 1996 and today it is now the College of Natural and Health Sciences. The old center counrt still remains in the main hall way for all to see and remember what the building used to be. It is said to be bad luck to walk across the center court but the nursing students will walk around it counter clockwise 3 times for good luck on their finals.

Now lets move onto Kepner Hall. Today Kepner is where we have out Monfort College of Business. Back in the day it used to be the training school. The State Normal School would bus students in from kindergarten to high school to be taught by the teaching students of the Normal School. The building was renovated in 1987 and is the home to the Malcome Baldridge National Quality Award.

Gray Hall Was the cool place to be back in the day. It was built in 1916 and was the "Woman's Club". Eventually it was opened to men and was the student union until 1964. Today it is where we have our UNC police department, parking services, and Norton Theatre.

If you would like more history about the buildings on campus feel free to go to the campus map and click on the buildings for fun historical facts. http://www.unco.edu/uncmap/

Monday, April 9, 2012

Oh the freedom and responsibilities of college. Buying your own toilet paper, making shopping list, cleaning your own room, doing your own laundry, and balancing your time between you school life and social life. There are so many things that you do as an independent college student. One of those glorious things is registering for your classes. Here at UNC you we have complete control over what classes we take and what time we take them at. The only exception is when you need the class for your major or if its only offered at one time. But other than that you weld the sword of destiny when it comes to your class schedule. Next semester I have one morning class from 9:05 to 9:55 on Monday,Wednesday and Friday then for the rest of the day I'm done with classes. Then on Tuesday and Thursday I have three classes in a row and don't get out till 4:45. The great thing is that if your a morning personal you can choose to have your classes in the morning. If your normal then you can choose to have all your classes in the afternoon and sleep in. You can have all your classes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and take Tuesday and Thursday off. It's amazing how empowering it is to be in charge of your own scheduling destiny. We sign up for fall semester in April and the spring semester in November. I hope all of you out there have a merry scheduling and a happy end of the school year.

Monday, April 2, 2012

This weekend I attended the University of Northern Colorado's Relay for Life. Relay for life is an event to celebrate, remember, and fight back. Its to celebrate the lives who have battled cancer, remember the lives of loved ones you have lost to cancer, and and fight back against cancer.

The event takes place in the gyms of the campus recreation center. Above the gym we have a suspended track where the walking relay takes place. There has to be one person from your team on the track at all times through out the whole event. Any club or organization can sign up as a team with a maximum 14 people. Each team does its own fundraisers to raise money for Relay. I did Relay for Life with my fraternity and we got together and did a bake sale to raise money. The theme for the event was under the sea, so the night before the event my team made t-shirts with that theme. When it comes to the night before the event you have to make sure than you get enough sleep. That means you go to bed early and take as many naps as you can all day long. Each team is given a square of space for them to use the whole night. Many teams choose to decorate their space with the theme and others simply use it as a sleeping area. Relay for Life lasted from 6pm until 7 am, so many students sleep for some of the time. When the event starts they have a speaker that talks about their experience with cancer to open the event. Then at 9 p.m. they have an Luminaria ceremony where we remember the loved ones that we have lost to cancer and honor the ones that are still fighting. The speaker for the ceremony was a woman who didn't let cancer in her way or bring her down. She inspired the audience by her cancer story and how she only saw the good things that came out of her diagnosis. All together the even was a great and memorable night that I will always remember. The University of Northern Colorado raised a total of $58,980. I lost my grandmother to breast cancer and this event allows me to remember the great woman she was and to fight for a cure for the future.

Monday, March 26, 2012

This weekend I had a life changing experience, I finally had D.P. Dough. My friends from Denver came up to visit me this weekend and they had heard of D.P. Dough so we decided to go there for lunch. I had heard so much about it and how good it was but I had never ventured there. We were all the way over on the other side of campus and decided that it wasn't too far to walk. Normally D.P. Dough isn't that far away but the walk feels a lot longer when it's nice and hot outside. To add to that, my friend thought she knew where she was going and took the long way to get there. Instead of cutting across campus to get there we went all the way around. So when we got there we were hot, thirsty, and very hungry. D.P. Dough serves calzones and personally I'm not usually a huge fan of them but these were different. They had all kinds of calzones. They had ones with ranch, BBQ sauce, hot sauce, and all kinds of sauces. They had chicken ones, steak ones, and veggie ones. They had a whole page of all the calzones they make. I ended up choosing the Steak BBQ and boy did I make the right choice. It was the best calzone I had ever had and it didn't even taste like a calzone. The heat and long walk was worth the glorious food that I was ingesting. The funny thing is that I would not have tried D.P. Dough if it had not been for my friends. It's funny how hard it is to step out of your own comfort zone but when you do, you sometimes try something that can change your life. I think that's what college is all about, stepping out of your comfort zone and experiencing something amazing.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Every year the University Program Council puts on a concert for UNC students. In that past we have have such performers as Boys Like Girls, Shwayze, The Fray, Maroon 5, and back in the day we had The Red Hot Chilie Peppers. This year we are having 3OH!3, our very own Colorado natives. The event is for UNC and Aims students.

The event is put on in the Butler-Hancock Gymnasium where we also host our basketball games. The University Program Council also puts on events like Open Mic Night, Comedy Club, and Club UNC. The cool thing about the UPC is that its actually a job that students can have here on campus. Every year they hire students who plan all these fun events. Whether you work for, volunteer, or just attended the UPC events, you are guaranteed to have a good time. For more information on the University Program Council visit: http://www.unco.edu/upc/index.html.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Being away from home can be scary, at least for me it was. Greeley is about an hour and a half away from home. Some of you might be thinking that that's not far enough for you but for me its too far. One of the things I like about UNC is that I feel safe here at UNC. All around campus there are emergency polls. There a tall blue poll with a blue light at the very top, if there is ever an emergency all I have to do is press the red button on the poll and a UNC police officer will be there in under 90 seconds.

﻿Now I have had some of my friends ask if the UNC police officers are real and I am here to tell you that they are. They are certified police officers just like all the police officers in Colorado.Another cool thing that I really like about UNC is their police escort service. This year I have classes that don't get out till after it's dark. I don't know about you but I'm afraid of the dark and unless I walk with someone I get scared. So on those nights all I have to do is call UNC Police Department and they will have a police officer escort me back to my dorm room. Talk about service .